**Official** English Football Season 2023/24

[sledger]

Edwards definitely would have green lit Nunez. The data analytics crowd had him as a generational talent. I think they still do.

Yeah Twitter (or X, I guess) is full of people posting infographics that prove, in spite of..er...his actual performances/output, he's absolutely amazing. Somewhat embarrassingly apparently Nunez himself has been retweeting them lol.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Ouch. That's one step up from editing one's own wiki page.

Now, I freely admit to being very old school and still genuinely believe that one learns more about a player from (hey!) watching them play than pouring over their stats, but the narrative that's sprung up that says players who constantly get into positions where they get chances are actually amazing players regardless of how many they miss is the purest form of BS to my way of thinking.

To chose the obvious example and the one I bet 95% of you immediately thought of, no one doubts Raheem's positional majesty and impressive turn of pace, but hailing the chances he gets but effs up as proof he's secretly the lovechild of Gerd Muller and Stanley Matthews is absolute cobblers.

It ignores the very obvious issues he has with control and finishing (the literal use of one's feet that the sport takes its name from) which are still, to my way of thinking, pretty important in a player.

The TL;DR version: a striker who gets 4 chances per game and scores 2 is better at this football lark than another who gets 10 opportunities and scores 1.

 

[sledger]

Yeah, it's almost the inverse of the old trope that goalkeepers that make lots of good saves, but play for teams that ship about 80 goals a season and get relegated, are top quality. Rob Green etc.

 

[Uppercut]

Ouch. That's one step up from editing one's own wiki page.

Now, I freely admit to being very old school and still genuinely believe that one learns more about a player from (hey!) watching them play than pouring over their stats, but the narrative that's sprung up that says players who constantly get into positions where they get chances are actually amazing players regardless of how many they miss is the purest form of BS to my way of thinking.

To chose the obvious example and the one I bet 95% of you immediately thought of, no one doubts Raheem's positional majesty and impressive turn of pace, but hailing the chances he gets but effs up as proof he's secretly the lovechild of Gerd Muller and Stanley Matthews is absolute cobblers.

It ignores the very obvious issues he has with control and finishing (the literal use of one's feet that the sport takes its name from) which are still, to my way of thinking, pretty important in a player.

The TL;DR version: a striker who gets 4 chances per game and scores 2 is better at this football lark than another who gets 10 opportunities and scores 1.

The confusion comes from the fact that data analytics are all about prediction, which isn't the same as measuring quality. The point isn't that missing loads of chances makes you a good player, it's that players who get miss loads of chances in one season have a very strong tendency to score loads of goals the season after. It's such a strong pattern that how many good chances a player gets this season is a better predictor of how they'll do next season than how many goals they score.

Noticing this made a lot of people a lot of money gambling in the late 2000s, and the Brentford/Brighton/Liverpool recruitment model is based on it. More painfully, Cabinet96 understanding it before I did left me stuck with an Arsene Wenger avatar for a year or so.

This is obviously useful for gambling and player recruitment, but Nunez tweeting it just makes him idiot. You're supposed to score.

 

[Molehill]

The confusion comes from the fact that data analytics are all about prediction, which isn't the same as measuring quality. The point isn't that missing loads of chances makes you a good player, it's that players who get miss loads of chances in one season have a very strong tendency to score loads of goals the season after. It's such a strong pattern that how many good chances a player gets this season is a better predictor of how they'll do next season than how many goals they score.

Noticing this made a lot of people a lot of money gambling in the late 2000s, and the Brentford/Brighton/Liverpool recruitment model is based on it. More painfully, Cabinet96 understanding it before I did left me stuck with an Arsene Wenger avatar for a year or so.

This is obviously useful for gambling and player recruitment, but Nunez tweeting it just makes him idiot. You're supposed to score.

Nunez is also the perfect example of someone getting loads of chances last season not necessarily turning them into goals this season. Turns out he's still just as shite at finishing despite presumably having worked loads on the glaring weakness in his game.

Yeah Twitter (or X, I guess) is full of people posting infographics that prove, in spite of..er...his actual performances/output, he's absolutely amazing. Somewhat embarrassingly apparently Nunez himself has been retweeting them lol.

Where have all these people suddenly come from? I follow a Uni student/Pompey fan who is coming out with some astonishing stuff. His essays on how new players can fit in to our manager's style are always an informative read. Whilst his prediction that one of our midfielders should try long shots against Derby was astonishing as that's exactly how we got our equaliser.

 

[Uppercut]

Nunez is also the perfect example of someone getting loads of chances last season not necessarily turning them into goals this season. Turns out he's still just as ****e at finishing despite presumably having worked loads on the glaring weakness in his game.

A few players are just irredeemably shite at finishing, but not very many, and two seasons isn't enough to be sure you've got one. Salah had two terrible finishing seasons at Roma before joining Liverpool, it's how they got him so cheap.

I'd be more comfortable with Nunez being one of them if he hadn't been banging them in from everywhere in his last season for Benfica.

 

[andruid]

A few players are just irredeemably ****e at finishing, but not very many, and two seasons isn't enough to be sure you've got one. Salah had two terrible finishing seasons at Roma before joining Liverpool, it's how they got him so cheap.

I'd be more comfortable with Nunez being one of them if he hadn't been banging them in from everywhere in his last season for Benfica.

Is he Uruguayan? If so, one magical international tournament under Bielsa's tutelage and he will be set straight.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

He's a mother****ing starboy

 

[Socerer 01]

Luis Suarez was absolutely **** at finishing for 1 and a half seasons at Liverpool and had the same criticisms thrown at him

there is a reason why data analytics and teams are willing to take risks on such players because its easier to work on a player’s finishing than his positioning and intelligence

 

[Tom Flint]

Jesus is a great example who just loses a lot of his ability when faced with a goalscoring opportunity. Whether he gets nervous or something I don't know.
His first touch and control everywhere on the pitch is some of the best I've seen. Yet if he has to bring the ball under control unmarked in the box it bounces off of him and the chance has gone.

 

[GIMH]

James Norwood was missing 1 on 1s routinely for 2.5 years and suddenly scored 30 goals in his first EFL season. Never forget

sorry, I just wanted to join in

 

[Furball]

Hasn't Nunez hit the post about 47 times this season?

Suggests to me that his finishing isn't a million miles away from translating into loads of goals.

 

[Niall]

Bournemouth absolutely screwed over their ffs.

 

[sledger]

Declan Rice, we got him half price

 

[grecian]

James Norwood was missing 1 on 1s routinely for 2.5 years and suddenly scored 30 goals in his first EFL season. Never forget

sorry, I just wanted to join in

Wasn't his first efl season, played against Leeds, many years before, 4 games in two years.

full season I suppose..

 

[GIMH]

Wasn't his first efl season, played against Leeds, many years before, 4 games in two years.

full season I suppose..

Yeah, fair point

 

[Skipper Pup]

Edwards definitely would have green lit Nunez. The data analytics crowd had him as a generational talent. I think they still do.

I'm not sure how true that is. Rumours at the time were that Klopp was the one that insisted on Nunez and it was part of the reason for the falling out between the two.

It's no coincidence that Edwards left a month before the Nunez signing was made. By that point Klopp was calling the shots.

 

[Furball]

I see Angeball has well and truly been burst and punted over the neighbour's fence.

 

[ripper868]

I thought he already left Scotland?

 

[duffer]

I see Angeball has well and truly been burst and punted over the neighbour's fence.

Lol, as if they'll do us a solid against City like people on r/gunners are hoping for